The Docklands Light Railway will now be welcoming 54 new “state of the art” trains to the network in the coming years after an option for 11 additional units was confirmed by Transport for London. Funding for these extra trains comes from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and will help to support the development of thousands of new homes and jobs.
The new trains are being built by CAF and are of the Inneo model. They will once again have the functionality to operate without drivers and will the longest single train seen on the network yet as they will be fully walk-through units. They will also include the latest audio and visual real time travel information, air conditioning and mobile device charging points.
The first two have already been delivered to the DLR and have started rigorous testing ahead of entry into service from 2024. This testing is currently taking place overnight and during some planned engineering closures on certain lines but later this year they will start to be seen out on the line during normal service hours, running in between the timetabled service.
It is planned that all 54 trains will have entered service by the end of 2026. Each unit has 10% more capacity than the current fleet and this will lead to an extra overall capacity of 60% across the network. They will be replacing the older train in the fleet (B90, B92 and B2K units) and will run alongside the B2007 and B2009 trains.
Tom Page, TfL’s General Manager for the DLR, said: “These new DLR trains will transform the journeys of millions of existing customers but will also give us the opportunity to welcome many more as new jobs and homes are created in east London and the Docklands area. Testing is progressing well ahead of the trains being introduced from 2024 and I really look forward to welcoming this new fleet to help contribute to the DLR’s continuing success.”
Richard Garner, CAF UK Director, said: “CAF is absolutely thrilled to be supplying 11 additional trains to DLR to supplement the original order of 43 trains and play our part in the growth and accessibility of London”